


xx

by Rainbowflashing



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M, Raven Neil Josten
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-01-07 13:07:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18411266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbowflashing/pseuds/Rainbowflashing
Summary: What if Mary waited four years to run with Nathaniel? What if i spent four years with the ravens, growing up with Kevin and Riko only to be taken by Mary at fourteen to run away from that life? What happens then when Mary dies and Kevin's decided that Neil Josten is the perfect strikersub for the foxes.---Same as the original exept Neil spent a couple of years at the nest before running with Mary.Disclamer: All rights belong to Nora Sakavic





	1. Chapter 1

Neil let his cigarette burn out without taking a single drag. He wasn't after the nicotine but the acrite smoke that reminded him of his mother. A jolt of grief went through him and the lump ash att the end of the cigarette disloged and fell onto the bleachers between his feet. He sat there and watched as the plexigals walls of the exy court was taken down. The season was over and the court would'nt be back untill next year. And by then he'd be far far away from here. It made him sick to watch. He'd played in bigger stadiums, hell he'd played in the biggest stadium in the US, but this court was the first one he'd played on since his mother took him and ran. He'd grown strangely attached to it and it made him feel nauseous to watch as they took it down. It might have to do with his obsession for the sport and his strong belif that exy was the only sport worth the name and he suspected that Kevin would agree with him. Another wave of grief washed over him at the thougt of the brother he'd left behind all those years ago and he quickly abandoned the thought. It was necessary for both of their survival that Neil left and that Kevin knew nothing about it.

"Did'nt see your parents here today". The voice of coach Hernandez startled him out of his thougts and he shook his head. " They could'nt make it, they are out of town." "You said they'd try to make it" " they tried, they could'nt". Hernandez shook his head. "Very well, there is someone here to see you." Neils blood froze, for someone with his history they were words from a nightmare. He quickly stood up and grabbed his duffelbag. But he was'nt quick enough. A stranger with tribal tattos up his arms stod before him and Hernandez hurried to present the man. " I know you still have not chosen a college for next semester and this man here is a coach for an exy college team. I sent him your file but I did not want to tell you if it would not lead to anything." The stranger cleared his throat. "My name is David Wymack and I need a new strikersub for my lineup this fall. My last recruit had to drop out on some technical problems." He grimaced. " And as your coach says you haven't chosen a college yet. It works out perfectly, you get a scholarship and I get a strikersub." " No, I'm not interested" " Look, I've been under quite some press since Janie dropped and it is already crazy late in the season for me to be here.." "Foxes" Neil's head started spinning, foxes, no not the foxes. The foxes was a ragtag team consisting of people from broken homes. Most people thought of them as a publicity stunt and called Wymack an idealistic fool. It was also the team Kevin had gone after his supposed skiing injury last year in which he'd broken his dominant hand and was presumed never to play again. To Neil it did not sound particularly likly that it was an accident and he suspected Riko had snapped Kevins wrist for being the best of the two. Kevin. Kevin can't be here, Kevin can't know he's here. In a split second he was runing. Runing away from here, away from his past away from Millport. Away from the man who knew Kevin. 

He entered the changingroom and realised to late he was not alone. A racket hit him full force straight in the stomach and he dropped to the floor, the air ripped out of his lungs. However, pain was not anything new to him and he quickly recoverd. To quickly from the look on Coach Wymacks face when he stormed in yelling at his attacker. "Minyard, what are you doing. This is why we can't have nice things." "If he was nice he would'nt be of any use to us." Neil looked his attacker over. Andrew Minyard, the foxes freshman goalkeeper and deadliest investment. He was stuck on courtprohibited drugs after nearly killing four men outside a club for coming onto his cousin for being gay. He was publicly branded as a psycopath and as he stared at Neil with a joyless smile on his face Neil kinda got why people so simply accepted that as the truth. He himself had some ideas of his own about Andrews state of mind but psycopath was not one of them. Neil had meet and known that kind of people but when he looked at Andrew he did not see that particular brand of crazy. 

Then the coach turned to Neil again. "So, what do you say?" "No, you signed Kevin" "And Kevin's signing you" "I can't play on the same team as Kevin, as a champion, I'm not good enough" It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the truth either. Neil had grown up being trained as a backliner and at fourteen he had been at the same level as many college players but a three year pause in his training and a change of position had made him clumsy on the court. Even then he had tried hard not to shine. Coach Hernandez thought he was a one year rookie and he needed to keep that front up in order to not be found. 

"No you're not" A new voice said behind him and once again Neil's whole body froze. He would never be able to forget that voice. The voice he'd grown up with, his older brother and big role model. The brother he had not seen in four years since he left the Nest to never return. Kevin. As soon as he recognised the voice he cursed himself, ofcourse Kevin would be here, Andrew was and Kevin never went anywhere without Andrew by his side. "You're not good enough and under any other circumstances I would never let someone with your inexperience on our team" Kevin continued with a sneer. "fortunately your coach did not send us your stats but a video of you playing. You play like you have nothing to lose, that is the only kind of striker I want" It took Neil a moment to realise what Kevin was saying, was he seriously here because he wanted Neil on the foxes ragtag halfway house team? Had he not recognised him? The thought both hurt and comforted him. It hurt that his brother did not see him, even under the fake haircolor and lenses but still, he could breath a little easier knowning his cover was not blown yet. "So, are you signing soon or what?" "No, I wont play with you" "Ooo, seems like your new recruit does not want you Kevin" Andrew leered " What are you gonna do?" " He'll sign" "Kevin, Andrew, get out. I need to speak to Neil alone." Wymacks gruff voice said. They left and after a seond look to Neil, so did coach Hernandez.

When they were alone Wymack turned to him again with something tired in his eyes. "Look, you know what kind of people I recruit" Neil nodded stiffly "And your coach thinks you fit the line. I don't know your story or what problems you have but Hernandez guesses you spend several nights here a week and you refuse to change with the others." " I need to talk to my mother about this." "She'll be happy for you" " Maybe" She wouldn't be, Mary Hatford had spent three years on the run with him, she would be furios if she knew he was even considering this. But this, college, an exyteam, it was everything he'd ever wanted and everything could never have. So that's how it went down. Coach Wymack left with a promise of a ticket to south carolina and a couch to sleep on. They agreed Coach Hernandez would fax the contract over when it was signed and wymack left.

As soon as he was out of the lockerroom Neil's nerves broke and he ran to the toilet and started dryheaving into it. What was he doing? He could not play on sam team as Kevin. He would be found and put back into the Nest, or even worse, into his father's care. A shiver ran through him and fantom pain radiated from the iron scar on his shoulder. He couldn't risk being found but he could not walk away from this. He touched he knife at his side and calm went through him. He hated that knifes had that effect on him but after all the training he'd had with them it was impossible to not feel better with a knife in hand.


	2. chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil arrives at Palmetto and gets picked up, by who?

There was full activity at the airport when Neil arrived there. College kids going home for the summer mingled with tourists and buisness people in a big mess of faces and vioces. Even if the mass of people made it feel a little hard to breath it also made it easier to blend in with the crowd. He gripped his duffelbag closely and made his way over to the pickup place. Wymack had promised someone would come get him and even if Neil did not look forward to riding with one of his new teammates it was better to get it over with. 

He felt his teammate's heavy gaze on him before he saw him and when he came into view he saw it was one of the twins. At first, the lack of a manic smile made him think it was Aaron but as he came closer and took in the mans posture he reevaluated that assumption. Neil had grown up learning how to read a persons bodylanguage, both in positive and negative ways, and the person infront of him so closly resembled the Andrew he'd meet in Millport that it was almost imopssible it was not the same person. The thing about bodylangauge is that no matter how much you try to express a certain feeling or resemble someone else some of your own experienses and feelings always shine through. It was only people like himself, schooled since before he could talk to push away his own personality and be able to adapt into other people, that could do it without letting themselfs in. The man infront of him was a fighter, the stiff way he held himself gave it away and when Neil looked closley he could see the slight tremor of withdrawl that Andrew expertly hid. It was quite impressive that he'd managed to fool Neil even for e second put he put that down as the absense of Andrew's drugs. However, Andrew must have a reason behind trying to fool Neil into beliving he was Aaron so he was just gonna go with it and see what he did. 

He came up to Andrew, who nodded in the direction of baggage claim. " Only this " Neil answered the unasked question. He waited for a reaction but Andrew just turned on the spot and started towards the parkinglot. As soon as they were outside, he produced a pack of cigarettes and, without looking, walked straight out in the traffic. Neil hurried after him and when Andrew stopped at a sleek black car, so did he. Neil did not know much about cars but he could recognise expensive when he saw it. It probably didn't cost as much as the one Riko had gotten for his sixteenth birthday but Neil still did not want to think about what Andrew must have paid for it. 

They stood there in silence until Andrew was done with his cigarette and the they entered the car och drove of in direction of Palmetto State. " I hear you're staying with coach for the summer" "Yeah, Abby's was full so he offered the couch" "That makes five of us for the summer" Neil's heart skipped a beat. He should have guessed Kevin would stay. It wasn't like he had somewhere to go and he would never be able to stay away from the court but he still hadn't expected to have to deal with him the entire summer. Well, atleast he would not live with him. "So Kevin's staying too" Neil said, trying to sound indifferent. If Andrew noticed anything he did not comment but only answered with " I heard you did not hit it off with Kevin last time you meet, you're the second person to refuse an offer from him. You might think he should be humbled but instead he's losing faith in high school athletes intelligence" Neil scoffed, that certainly sounded like the Kevin he'd grown up with bur he did not say that to Andrew. " I'm sure Andrew had his reasons to refuse, same as me" This was the ultimate test, if Andrew did not correct Neil he'd know he'd tried to fool him. But Andrew didn't blink an eye as he replied " yet, you're still here" " I guess it was to big of a chance to say no to. " The rest of the journey was spent in silence.


	3. chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil meets the rest of the monsters.

Eventully, they pulled up to the curb outside an apartment building. Neil had looked up where Wymack lived beforehand so he knew that was where they had arrived. On the curb stood three people waiting for them. Neil's gaze instantly landed on Kevin and he had to force himself to lookat the others before it seemed weird. Beside him stood Aaron Minyard, pretending to be Andrew with a big grin in place, and the twins cousin Nicholas "Nicky" Hemmick. He could feel Andrew heavy stare as he exited the car and he had to work hard to act normal.

As soon as he closed the car door Nicky came up to him. " Hi, my name's Nicky, I'm the twins cousin and you've already meet those to." he said with a big smile and gesture over his shoulder. Nicky's sunny attidute was such a contrast from the car ride that Neil was momentarily a bit stunned but he quickly got hold of himself. " Hi, nice to meet you I'm Neil." " Yeah, I know. you want any help with the bags?" " I've only got this" Neil said, holding up his duffel. " No way, I wish I could pack that light but hell if Iaint materialistic." 

By then Andrew's patience had come to its end and he started walking to the building door. The others followed him and they took the elevator up to Wymacks apartment. When they reached it, Aaron prodused a key from his backpocket which he used to open the door. Neil noticed that Aarons pants were way to tight to hold the pack of cigarettes he'd seen Andrew put away in his backpocket and almsot felt a little offended, how stupid did they think he was? 

The door swung open and the others waited for him to go in. Just as he started entering he was suddenly struck with a flash of panic. What was he doing? putting himself in the spotlight with both the Moriyamas and his father on his tail. It was stupid and he knew it. But he wanted this, he needed this. He had'nt been himself after leaving Evermore and it was'nt until he picked up a racket again that he finally felt whole. Exy was everything he had, his whole life, however short it may be. 

He realised he'd hesitated a moment to long and hurried in. He heard the others enter behind him and did his best to look like he was investigating the place. "What was that?" Neil froze at Nickys question. But it was'nt the words that schoked him, it was the language. How did he know Neil spoke german? " Maybe he was savouring the moment?" came Aarons reply and Neil could breath again. They were not talking to him but to eachother. " No, that was pure fight or flight instinct, What did you say to him Andrew?" 

Andrew did not reply but Nicky did not seem to be expecting him to as he turned to Neil and in english asked " Sweet right? If anything involving coach can be called sweet." "Yeah, it's pretty nice." It was, it was messy with things all over and coffemugs left as relics on all open surfaces but it felt lived in and comfortable. Not that it mattered, Neil was used to living alone and he'd probably wake everytime Wymack snored but he guessed he'd have to get used to it. After all, he was moving back into a dorm this fall and a dorm meant roommates. 

He remembered his last roommate, Jean Moreau. He had'nt seen Jean since he left Evermore when he was 14 years old. Now, that was 4 years ago and a day had'nt gone by that Neil did not think of him. His partner in crime, his friend, his brother. They had been in it together, taking care of and watching eachothers backs. Learning how to patch eachother up after one of Rikos temper tantrums and figuring out how to navigate the nest as they grew older and the expectations on the grew with them. Neil had always taken the brunt for Rikos angre since his fathers temprament made it hard for him to keep quiet, he had scars to prove it and he hoped that Jean was doing okay even without him there. 

He dragged his attention back to Nicky as he continued out the doorway and entered the office. This room to, was cluttered with papers and mugs and the walls was covered in pictures and articles. Nicky picked up a pillbottle and Andrew was on his way to picking Wymacks liqcour cabinet open. Neil could not help but notice his tecnique was quite good, no match for Neils own abilities but still it did not take him long to open the cabinet door and produce a bottle of wisky. "Is this robbery in progress?" Neil asked. "Maybe, you gonna tell on us?" Andrew answered in a gloating voice" What a teamplayer, you really are a fox". Neil ignored him. " I might ask him why you're of your meds though". Andrew froze and slowly turned to him. " Oh oh, you might just be interesting, to bad it wont last". Neil was going to bite somthing back but just then the door opened and Coach Wymack opened the door. 

In a second the bottle had disappeared between Aaron and Kevin and Andrews maniac smile was in place. " You know I do not like coming home and finding you here" he said, "So why are you here?" " Jeez coach, we're just showing Neil his way around. What do you think of us" Nicky quickly said " Wait, don't answer that". Wymack sighed and turned to Neil. " Hello there, I hope you survived Nickys driving". Interesting, It seemed like Wymack had tasked Nicky with the task of picking him up. Neil understood Andrews reasoning tho so he just answered " I've lived through worse" "Huh, doubt it". He saw Nickys shoulders sag with relif, he really needed to work on his pokerface. 

"Anyway coach, we're going to show Neil the court now, bye". Before Wymack could say something they all filed out behind Andrew. Neil stayed back. He did not like leaving his duffel here but he did not trust Andrews intentions. "Hey, is there somewere safe I can leave this?" he asked. "How safe?" "It is all I have" The thruth scorched his throat but he needed a safe place for his stuff. Wymack gave him a onceover, then he open a cabinet and through the files in it out on the floor. "Here" He placed the duffel and with a little shoving it closed. Wymack gave him the key together with three others. "The keys to court" Wymack said " make Kevin show you which i which" "thanks". Wymack nodded and Neil left the apartment


End file.
